aeblog

it has been a rough week...

but I didn't realize until last night what a stressed out mess I have been. My condition has mainly been brought about by my work and the fact that I am being pulled in seemingly hundreds of directions by every 'integration' team imaginable at Symantec. It's getting a little bit old. A lot old, actually.

So yesterday, I'm frantically trying to get everything completed by the weekend and I am looking forward to going to a performance of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. After massive indecision as to whether I should drive downtown and risk not being able to find a parking spot, or just take the T, I decide to go for the T and risk being at the whim of our erratic public transport system instead. I have barely enough time, so I get off at Symphony Hall and am literally running down Huntington Ave to Jordan Hall when it hits me: Is this concert at Jordan Hall? Uh oh. The closer I get, the more convinced I become that I am running to a show that is about to begin somewhere else entirely. And I was right.

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Let's take a time out here. Do you realize what I did?! I went to the WRONG VENUE! This is not easy to do. Maybe it's not quite as bad as going to Fenway for a Patriots game, but come on! In my defense, every BMOP concert other than this one has been held at Jordan Hall, but still, what was wrong with me? It turns out the BMOP faithful were filing into the Longy School all the way in Cambridge as I labored toward the NEC. Arghh!!!!

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But what's this? Something is happening at Jordan Hall; a different show, perhaps? I do not give up so easily. I sidle my way up to the Will Call table which is about to shut down because it is 8:03, and confidently announce that I have a ticket being held under 'Burgund', please and thank you. Perfect timing, an under-sold show, and a subtle wink at the Will Call lady (well, maybe not the wink) conspired and two minutes later, not only was I in the show, but I was sitting in the best seat I have ever sat in at Jordan Hall on a Complimentary ticket.
And what luck(!), the program stated that I was about to hear the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio play Beethoven, Shostakovich and Brahms Piano Trios. For those of you not familiar with these performers, THEY KICK ASS! And after the day I had experienced, the more familiar and mellifluous tones of these three composers was going to be significantly more relaxing than the Bernard Rands: Canti Trilogy. Things are looking up.

This complete screw-up and total brain malfunction leads to my introduction to one of the most sublime pieces of music I have ever heard performed: Shostakovich's Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor. Dmitri wrote this piece as a memorial of sorts to his dear friend and one of Russia's leading music critics at the time, Ivan Sollertinsky. It has this melancholic wonder to it, and the way he uses the full range of the cello in particular is remarkable. He is mourning the loss of his friend with legato notes that are practically overtones oozing out of a brilliantly played cello. And the pizzicato interplay between Laredo and Robinson couldn't have been more perfect. Wow, this is good!
I went to my classical music cd library in my basement this morning and found a recording of this piece and am listening again right now. There is something irresistibly powerful about it; something that makes me feel both sad and happy at the same time; something that only music can do to me.

Somehow this mistaken cap to my day yesterday couldn't have been more perfect. I had a lot of feelings running through my body all day, and as I sat in Jordan Hall in premiere complimentary seating with my eyes closed and head back, I felt this music throughout me; I felt absorbed by Shostakovich's feelings of loss; I felt it take me over; and I felt lucky.